THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION STUDENTS' LEVELS OF ALEXITYMIA AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS
The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between alexithymia levels of communication skills of public administration department students. The research was designed as a descriptive and relationship searcher type. The study group consisted of 151 public administration department students in total of 92 female and 59 male who received undergraduate education in Mersin province. The data of the study were collected with the ‘Toronto Alexithymia Scale’ and ‘communication skills scale’. The normality controls for continuous measurements in data analysis were tested by Shapiro Wilk test. As a result of the research, it was determined that communication skills of Public Administration students were “good level” and “intermediate” levels of alexithymia. When the relationships between alexithymia levels and communication skills are examined; It was determined that there was only an increase in extrovert thought as the communication principles and basic skills scores increased, only an increase in extrovert thought as the self-expression increased. As acitve listening and non-verbal communication increased, there was an increase in extrovert thought and total alexithymia levels. As the willingness to communicate increased, it was concluded that there was only an increase in extrovert thought, while the increase in total communication skills, and the increase in extrovert thought.

Keywords
Communication skills, alexithymia, student